The Virtue of Victory
by Chevira Lowe
Summary: Cliche as crackers. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, birthdays, symbolism, fluff and Come, Come Paradise. (NaruSasu, one-shot)


The Virtue of Victory

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AN: Written for my Narumod, over at the greatestjournal RPG imamade nandomo. It's awesome liek woah, and our poor Narumod works herself nearly to death for us RPGers! So this is just a little token of appreciation, because I luffs me my Narumod and all that jazz. (speaking of which, we need players! So if you're a good writer and like RPing, drop me a line and I'll point you in the right direction?)

Please note. **There is a whole bunch of out of characterness here**. I'm aware of that. I hate the fact that it's there, but because it was written as a giftie for my Narumod, I'm not the one who has to like it, yay. XD;;

This fic was written in about three hours and is unedited.

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Naruto wakes up extra early today, because today is his birthday. He's turning nineteen, still a year away from being able to drink, but an adult in every other feasible way. He's killed people, gotten his first kiss… (courtesy of his stuck-up jackass of a best friend, actually) and he's one of the strongest ninjas in his village of Konohagakure. He's gotten his vaunted recognition, he's single-handedly dispelled the rumors about him eating young children (Kyuubi will become a vegetarian if it kills him, he says) and he's become everything anyone could have ever hoped of him.

Unfortunately, he's also loud as hell. "Oy, oy, oy! Sasssssuke!" and there he goes again with that timeless exuberance, and Sasuke braces himself for the inevitable tackle that will follow that declaration, and thanks whatever deity exists that he bothered to do it, because the next moment, Naruto has quite literally pounced him, messed up his hair and skewed his shirt, and somehow managed to dislodge his hitai-ate into sliding down over one eye.

Sasuke merely grunts a good-morning at him, because really, it's far too early for Sasuke to be anything approaching civil. Naruto doesn't look the slightest bit disappointed, and he repeats his enthusiastic greeting, much to Sakura's chagrin. The young woman gives Sasuke an exasperated glance as Naruto asks her to 'pretty please take me out for ramen since it's my birthday and we've got a mission later and I reaaaally want some ramen please!'

Sasuke, still rather ruffled, tugs his shirt straight and pushes his hitai-ate back into its proper position and mutters 'Idiot' in Naruto's general direction, though it's more a term of endearment and less an insult these days. Not that Sasuke would ever admit that, though, because some things in life are simply better left unsaid. They have a tendency to carry more meaning that way.

"Naruto!" Sakura says sharply, and the blond stops mid-sentence and gives her a quizzical look, inhumanly animalistic. He's become more and more in tune with the fox demon inside of him, and sometimes it's hard to differentiate between the two.

"Eh?" Naruto asks, scratching his head, looking completely at a loss.

Okay, perhaps it's not so hard after all.

"Our mission," Sakura informs him with a trace of her medic's coolness, "has been delayed until the day after tomorrow. However, we have a new mission that's of a greater priority that needs to be carried out today."

Naruto grins, ear-to-ear, and winks at Sasuke and gives him a thumb's up before turning back to Sakura. "What is it? Do we get to escort someone important? A princess!"

Sasuke, remembering their first mission of any importance and Naruto's reaction thereof, shakes his head and sighs. Some things never change. Some don't need to, and some change all too fast. Sasuke puts a hand to his shoulder to cover that old, nearly-quiescent ghost and watches his comrades bicker away like the children they are not and haven't been for years.

"No, idiot!" Sakura half-shouts at him, just trying to be heard over the din Naruto is making. She has a sort of mischievous glint in her eye that means one of two things: either Naruto or Sasuke has just gotten hurt and she gets to stitch the wound closed without anesthetic, or she's got a trick up her sleeve. Seeing as how both he and his idiot companion are both in good health, without abrasion or laceration or even anything as mundane as a headache, he assumes it's the latter.

"Here, I'll explain things at Sasuke's," and with that, she takes Naruto's arm and marches him firmly off in the direction of Sasuke's small apartment complex. Sasuke sighs, shoves his hands in his pockets and follows after at a considerably saner pace. He'd like to say he hates them, and their stupid routines and rituals, but the truth is…

The truth is, the world is a lot more tolerable when there are other things in your heart save revenge.

Sakura was up all night decorating Sasuke's apartment. Wisely, he'd moved out and wrestled a corner of Kakashi's living room to himself to avoid being caught up in her veritable storm of pink (why pink, of all colors?) streamers. She told him matter-of-factly that because it was for Naruto, he ought to help.

Sasuke had assumed he could be of more help by making himself scarce, seeing as how he had the fashion sense of a particularly inebriated gnat. And, judging by the pink and green and blue and yellow streamers littered throughout his house like so many multicolored snakes, Sakura shares at least that much with him.

Naruto, however, is amazed. "Wow!" he exclaims brightly, touching a ginger hand to an arrangement of flowers likely donated by the local Yamanaka flower repository. Sasuke reminds himself that Naruto is even more aesthetically challenged than he and Sakura put together, and so he merely leans against one of the few remaining unadorned walls and watches as Naruto flits about and grins and laughs over silly, stupid little things.

Sakura has to continually bat his roving hands away from touching something that would fall down and disrupt her symmetry, and she chases him around and tells him to take off his damned shoes, because this is Sasuke's apartment, and Sasuke shouldn't have to clean up after him.

Quietly, Sasuke agrees. But in a louder voice, he merely says, "Tch. I'd make him do it anyways. Forget about it, Sakura."

Naruto grins at him conspiratorially, like they've just shared a secret, and resumes his territorial prowl of the multi-colored monstrosity that has taken up residence in Sasuke's residence. And then the idiot blond pauses, glances back and forth between Sasuke and Sakura and finally says, "So, guys, what's this mission?"

Sakura holds up a hand, finger to her lips and heads for the kitchen, leaving Sasuke and Naruto alone, momentarily.

Naruto still looks so damned confused. "Hey, hey, Sasuke, what's goi-?"

Sasuke shrugs, as if he doesn't know. He does, of course, but he's not about to give Naruto that little edge. The idiot is freakishly perceptive enough as it is, these days.

"Is this about my birthday?" he asks, right on cue. There are several loud noises in the kitchen and Sasuke can hear Sakura swearing in technicolor, almost as bright as the streamers.

"Why would you think that?" Sasuke idly touches one hand to the re-enforced chain at his neck. For his sixteenth birthday, Naruto had given him two things. The necklace that Tsunade had given him so many years earlier, and a slight glimmer of humanity that had yet to fade.

The necklace had been the better received of the two things, despite the manner in which it was given.

"What's this?" he'd asked, as he felt around the wound that the kunai had left and tried to breathe shallowly so he would drown in his own blood just a little slower. Something had happened, and he wasn't sure what because for once, things had moved too fast, spun around a little too quickly for his sharingan to catch, and somewhere in and amidst the fiery chaos of battle, he'd gotten between Naruto and a knife. Again.

Naruto had grinned, but it had been so pained and it had never reached his eyes. "It's Tsunade-sama's necklace. Keep it for me?"

Sasuke closed his eyes against the pain, and felt Naruto press a hand against the wound to staunch the bleeding. "Moron," he'd muttered in a low voice.

Naruto made a small 'heh' noise. "It's not like it's yours to keep or anything, idiot! I just don't want to lose it, and you're more responsible than I am, and …just shut up, all right?"

They'd been silent for a while, and when Naruto deemed him good and unconscious (although really, he wasn't), he'd added softly, "And…don't die, please?" How absurd it had been to discover Naruto remembered he had manners in the middle of a battlefield.

Sasuke hadn't really planned on it, but knowing that the other boy still cared…

Well, it reinforced something he'd thought he could live without.

But that had been years ago, now. Ancient history by Naruto's standards, even when it still seems like yesterday for Sasuke. He still hasn't learned to let things go, and carries scars to prove it. But Naruto's caught the gesture of him touching the necklace and he grins. "You still wear that stupid old thing?" he asks nonchalantly, but it's a question more serious than he's willing to let on.

Sasuke snorts. "I told you I wouldn't lose it, moron. You really should take it back one of these days; I might get confused and think it's actually _mine." _He half-lifts it over his head to prove his point, fully prepared to give it back right then and there.

Naruto catches his hand. Sasuke has to look _up _to meet his eyes. He hadn't actually seen the other boy move, but then, he wasn't paying much attention, either.

"What?" he asks irritably, though it's probably just a cover for something he won't admit.

Naruto's grin is lopsided, just a little. "Keep it," he says, and his voice is low and quiet and careful, just like that time he'd asked -begged- Sasuke not to die. He hates that he can't resist that voice, that tone, that damned _idiot _but then again, some things change, and some things never do.

Sakura interrupts them a moment later, bounding back with a plate of cake that no normal woman should have been able to carry without buckling under the weight. She manages it easily, shifts it to one hand and, likely having ensured it wouldn't fall off with an infusion of chakra, puts her free hand on her hip. "Are you two _deaf _I sai—" she pauses a little, just a little, eyes widening and then narrowing at the scene before them.

Sasuke admits, it looks pretty compromising. Naruto has drawn back a little, but his calloused fingers are dangerously close to Sasuke's lips, and they're near enough to touch. And then Sakura grins, grins because she knows better than to say anything to the contrary and clears her throat. "If you two are done consorting, I'll carve up the cake." Wastefully, she flicks a little chakra blade between her fingers and eyes the multi-layered pink monstrosity speculatively.

Naruto springs away from Sasuke, not guiltily or even abashedly and he scampers to Sakura and comes dangerously close to pouncing on her. He probably would have, had she not re-adjusted the direction of the shimmering blue blade a smidgeon closer to his vital organs.

He laughs weakly and then grins as he pulls up short, just out of Sakura's impressive reach. "Sakura-chan! You baked me a cake? Really! That's so awesome!" Naruto eyes it hungrily and takes an abortive swipe at the icing, only to be chased off by Sakura, who sniffs in indignant amusement.

"Actually," she says, stopping when Sasuke growls at her in an undertone. Unfortunately, it doesn't cow her like it might have once, and she merely continues on in a prim voice, "_Actually… _**Sasuke **baked the cake."

Sasuke has seen Naruto speechless before, on rare occasions. Usually it's when the idiot's mouth is full, or when he's sleeping, or something of that ilk. But he has never, _ever _seen him look quite so…stuffed.

The entire apartment is silent except for the clock ticking on the wall, until Sakura flashes another grin at the both of them and waltzes back to the kitchen. "Don't let me interrupt," she calls over one shoulder. "I'll still be here when you're done."

Naruto has the presence of mind to say aloud in wonder, "Done… _what?" _

Hitting Naruto with a clue-by-four won't do any good at all, so Sasuke just shakes his head and follows Sakura. Let Naruto figure out for himself what she'd meant.

"Oy!" Naruto calls after a few more seconds of contemplation, before he tackles Sasuke from behind and hitches a ride into the kitchen.

Later, team seven is happy, sated, and entirely too satisfied with life. Sakura is draped over Sasuke's sofa, has kicked her shoes off against the far wall and is reading the newest version of Icha, Icha Paradise, likely filched from Kakashi. Her bare toes are wriggling around to the rhythm of the pages she turns. Naruto keeps trying to snatch it from her so he can read it, but she deflects him each time and tells him firmly that no, he is _not _mature enough to handle it. He tries to tell her that he _was _Jiraiya's apprentice for several years, which just earns him an amused look, an arched eyebrow and an exclamation of '_Oh _so i _that's _where he got that idea…'

"What idea? Huh! Sakura-chaaaaan Tell me!"

"Mnuh-uh," she murmurs, a slow smile curving her lips upwards as she merely turns another page and tucks her nose back into the book.

So Naruto pouts and comes to sit by Sasuke. It's well past midnight, but none of them are tired. The opposite, actually. Naruto has eaten enough cake to ensure he won't be falling asleep any time soon, and Sasuke is Sasuke. If Naruto can stay up, he can too.

Eventually, Sakura sighs, eyes the clock on the wall and gets up, tucks the dog-eared book into the waistband of her low-slung jeans and blows a kiss at both boys. "I promised my special someone I wouldn't keep him up too late, so I'll leave you to it. Hell, I'll even take you guys out for breakfast tomorrow to make up for trashing your kitchen."

Sasuke has seen his kitchen. It looks like it was molested by a miniature tornado, and somehow, Sakura had managed to get every single pot dirty. Naruto bounds to his feet and leaps at Sakura for a parting hug, which earns him a pat on the head and a kiss on the cheek, and then she waves to Sasuke and heads for the door after grabbing her shoes.

"Later," he tells her absently.

She pauses, just long enough to give him an exasperated look and a roll of her eyes. "Yes, _mother," _she responds teasingly before she leaves.

Naruto returns to plop down beside Sasuke, his back to the couch, and he pulls the katana that Sakura had given him for his birthday out from where he'd hidden it under the couch while they'd eaten dinner. _Idiot, _Sasuke had said. Naruto had vehemently declared that there could be robbers out and about, and that if any of them so much as dared touch Sakura-chan's present, he would eat them. With a side of cake. So he'd hidden the slender-bladed sword -inefficiently- under the couch. Sasuke hadn't seen fit to remind him that the three of them were ninja -elite ninja, no less- and that no mere robber could do anything beyond annoying them. It seemed…redundant.

So Naruto studies it (in itself not a surprise, he'd been eyeing it nonstop since she'd revealed it to him) and nudges Sasuke occasionally to point out a particularly well-crafted strip of leather on the hilt, or some other equally mundane thing. Sakura had told him that it had once belonged to the Fourth, and that he should treat it with respect, seeing as how it was worth more than him and all. She didn't say how she'd gotten it, or why she'd given it to Naruto, but Sasuke suspected it had something to with Tsunade.

"Isn't it awesome, Sasuke?" Naruto asks, forcing him to go over the fine contours of the sword once _again _and answer to the affirmative.

"Great sword. Nice balance. Now shut the hell up," he tosses off at random, noting that he could have said 'I'm wearing a pink thong made out of icing' and the words would have registered just as well. Just as he's wondering whether or not he should test his theory aloud, Naruto grins, slashes the air with his sword and turns to face him more fully.

"Wanna spar?"

Sasuke snorts. Both of them are aware of whom the master of sword-oriented combat is, and it's _not _Naruto. Even so, the thrill of beating a competent opponent has never quite faded for Sasuke, and he knows that Naruto is one of the best.

"Sure."

Sasuke's sword was a gift from Orochimaru. There's a serpent coiled around the hilt, and the tail extends down the length of the blade. It's not just ornate, it's deadly, and it has impeccable balance. Sasuke figures Naruto knows where it's from, but he's never said anything about it. So Sasuke keeps the sword as a reminder and leaves it at that.

They're on the rooftop of his building; the high chain-linked fences are not so much a barrier as a stipulation of unspoken rules. Sasuke's shirtless, because he's always liked the feel of cool air against his skin. Naruto's reminding him to fix his hitai-ate properly, like a real ninja, damnit! Sasuke shifts his position, standing lightly on the balls of his feet, and he traces one toe in a lazy arc to find his center balance. Naruto is testing out the weight of Yondaime's sword, and apparently he finds it to his liking. Honestly, Sasuke had thought it somewhat heavier than a normal, efficient sword should be, but he doubts Naruto notices the discrepancy.

"Come on, then," he says matter-of-factly, dipping the point of his blade as if the fight were already over. "I don't want to do all the work of kicking your ass without the slightest bit of cooperation."

Naruto smirks and points to an indecipherable point somewhere beyond Sasuke's left shoulder. Sasuke turns imperceptibly and his eyes flash sharingan red, just in time to read the movements of a clone, coming towards him full-tilt, sword upraised. Sasuke takes several steps to one side, so he can keep both Narutos in his field of vision and suddenly he's attacked from behind, as well, and there's a clone wrapped about his torso, overbalancing him and causing him to stagger.

In annoyance, he elbows the clone in the head and it disappears with a puff of smoke. But now both the real-Naruto and the clone-Naruto have caught up to him, and he clashes blades with the former. The blades are good quality ninja steel, and so they don't ignite sparks, or any of that romantic bullshit you can read about in ten cent novels, but they do emit a melodious snap, sharp like sulfur and a building thunderstorm. The clone moves to attack as well, and Sasuke whips out a kunai to counter the blade. Keeping an eye on two opponents isn't as hard with the sharingan as without, and he knows he still has a clear advantage.

"Kyaa!" Naruto shouts at him, in annoyance or anger or sheer adrenaline-induced joy. Sasuke isn't sure which it is, because he's never been very good at reading people because he's worried about the mirrored results. What if they could read _him?_

The clone parries, and Sasuke slips in under its guard and delivers a kunai to its gut. This one, however, disappears in a splash of…water?

He's not sure when Naruto learned Mizu Bunshin, nor does he have time to ask. The water vaporizes and catches them both with a spray of mist, an almost refreshing reprieve in and amidst the battle. And then Naruto springs back and away, laughs and flips his wet hair back out of his face. "Just wanted to see if I could do that," he says, gesturing at the puddle. "Only tried it a few times."

Sasuke holds the sword in close against his body and rapidly moves through the hand signals for one of his fire jutsu. Naruto yelps and hastily counters with a wall of water, meant to absorb the attack rather than deflect it.

The fact that he can perform water jutsu in a place so isolated from it speaks volumes of his inherent power. Sasuke feels a twinge of that old jealousy and stamps it down in irritation, choosing to attack again, and more viciously this time, just to take his mind off the past. His shoulder twinges and he jerks, throwing his aim askew, and the sword embeds itself at the ground near their feet. Naruto is staring at him, in something that he wouldn't go so far as to label concern. Surprise, maybe.

"Sasuke?"

"Shut _up_!"he roars, jerking the blade out of the concrete and with a flick of his hand, he's reversed the edge and brought it up for a violent upstroke. Naruto laughs, parries and steps back and out of Sasuke's range.

The shorter man stands there a moment and pants with exertion, before it strikes him how truly funny this all is. How he can still be envious of someone else for daring to reach his level, even when he knows that there's still aspects of fighting that he's mastered more fully. Sasuke wants to be needed, wants to be someone's protector, and to Naruto, Sasuke's existence isn't necessary.

It didn't occur to him that he might have spoken aloud.

"Eh?" Naruto pulls up short, holds the sword point-down but doesn't rest it against the ground. "What the hell makes you think that?"

"Shut up," Sasuke informs him before he steps forward to attack again, as if to detract from the words he shouldn't have said, or to believe they didn't exist, or something. This time, Naruto stubbornly folds his arms and doesn't move at all. Sasuke's sword, serpentine and deadly like a snake coiled to strike, comes within bare millimeters of his neck and he doesn't so much as flinch. He's damned defiant, that's what he is.

"Sasuke," Naruto says levelly. "Take your own advice for a second, moron. But seriously, what the _hell_ was that all about?" Gingerly, he reaches up and traces one finger down the blade, pushing it away. Blood wells in a thin line against his skin and reluctantly, Sasuke relents and slashes the katana down and away.

"None of your business," he says, perhaps more softly than he'd meant to. Idiot, idiot, _idiot_ how could he let that affect him again, and on Naruto's _birthday_ no less? With an effort, he forces himself to ease out of the tension that fighting always induced in him. Stands straighter and less like a predator in for the kill. "I forfeit. Go home."

He turns and he walks away, and he won't admit that he wants Naruto to stop him. Or at the very least, say _something_…

There's a rustle of fabric, and he doesn't turn, at least until something hard and solid strikes him in the back of the head. And then he just stands a moment and blinks, because of all the possible scenarios, he hadn't expected _that._

"You hit me," Sasuke says, still not bothering to face the blond. "You _hit_ me."

Naruto grins cheekily. He can hear it in his voice, and can imagine the expression afterwards. "Yup."

Sasuke pauses. Looks down. Catches the shadow of a _shoe_ of all things, in his peripheral vision. "…With a _shoe_."

"Hehe!"

Sasuke doesn't speak. He doesn't really need to. He reminds himself that this is _Naruto_ and that Naruto is many things but above all an idiot, and he doesn't really need to challenge him or to win because they're _equals_.

Sasuke's sword was a gift from Orochimaru, and it clatters to the ground. Sasuke whirls on the base of one heel and tackles Naruto. Naruto blinks, and, thinking the battle isn't over, starts to form the hand-seals for kage bunshin. Sasuke stills his hands with one of his own and smirks, all golden glory and triumph and an epiphany come at last to light.

"I said I forfeit," he murmurs amusedly. He leans forwards, and the necklace works itself free from his shirt and swings down between them, drawing Naruto's attention.

"Well, I never know with you!" Naruto says indignantly, squirming. He wants up, but Sasuke is not and will never be that nice.

"I didn't get you anything for your birthday," the Uchiha muses aloud, watching Naruto's expression. It registers three things at once. Puzzlement, embarrassment and a hearty side-portion of animal wariness, because he really doesn't think the fight is over.

"Yeah, so? I won't get you anything for yours. We're _even_ now—ngh, get off!"

"Naruto," Sasuke says simply, and with his free hand, he mirrors a gesture he's seen done many times but never actually done himself. He puts his fingers to his lips and 'Ssh's', very softly. Naruto works his hands free and sticks them over his head, effectively out of Sasuke's reach, and he finishes Kage Bunshin and several clones shimmer into existence, and they all pounce on Sasuke and two of them combined manages to lift him up and cart him away. He lets it happen, simply because he's not out to win. Not any more.

"What the hell's a'matter with you, Sasuke?" Naruto asks suspiciously as he hops to his feet and hunts around for his sword. Sasuke merely lounges in the grip of the clones and smirks up at the starry sky.

"Nothing," he says truthfully, because for the first time, there's actually something _right_.

"The hell…?" Naruto scratches his head as he leans down to retrieve his sword, and Sasuke uses the distraction to his advantage, flipping backwards, taking out both clones with precision kicks to the sides of their necks. He lands with a flourish, still smirking. The blond takes the opportunity to conjure a half-dozen more clones and he's busy forming some sort of battle strategy, judging by the set of his jaw.

"Naruto!" Sasuke says again, sharper this time. "Damnit, pay attention to me!"

True to form, Naruto's gaze snaps back to him like an elastic band stretched too far. "Eh? Why should I? You never pay any to me!"

"Just shut up a moment, idiot," he mutters, stalking across the roof, around his abandoned sword. He makes it to Naruto relatively unscathed, save the other man's glare, wraps one hand firmly about the back of his neck and pulls him down until they're eye to eye, nose to nose. Naruto goes cross-eyed trying to get a clear shot of him. "I don't care if you need me," Sasuke says, not entirely at random, having picked up on the earlier thread of their spat.

Naruto gives up and just shuts his eyes instead, because the idiot's probably gone and made himself dizzy. "Well, I don't care either, so what are you so worried about?" There's a little puff of air as Naruto exhales and Sasuke licks his lips reflexively.

"You're…" he starts seriously, and then stops and laughs, pulling a short distance away. "You're missing the whole point, idiot." Another chuckle, he merely shakes his head. "You're such a _moron_." Affectionate, again. He's surprised at how much a simple variation in inflection can seem a word seem alternately a blessing or a curse.

"Eh? …Hm." Naruto opens his eyes, re-orients himself and then rubs at his head, mussing up his still-damp hair. "I don't think so, but whatever." He doesn't wait for Sasuke's questioning look and carries on under his own steam, as per usual. "You've got this whole problem that you think if you can't be the best no one will ever want you. Which is not only a load of crap, but entirely stupid." Naruto sets a hand on his shoulder, almost as if he were mocking their difference in height.

"Don't make me say I've always needed you, because I'd _totally_ kick your ass."

Sasuke almost grins. Catches himself and converts it into a self-satisfied smirk, instead. "Whatever, dead last." He waits just long enough for Naruto to dispel his clones and to reclaim Yondaime's sword, and then they head back towards Sasuke's apartment. There's a faint breeze, and the smell on the air is one of promise, of tomorrows and of things that once seemed impossible but are now a close kin to accomplishment.

The sword was a gift from Orochimaru, and he leaves it on the roof.

* * *

Criticism? 


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